Apple iPhone 7 vs. Nokia 8

Nokia is making a comeback under its new owners, but the former king of mobile phones will has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to reclaim that crown. Here, we put the new flagship Nokia 8 up against the iPhone 7.

Size

The iPhone is slightly smaller than the flagship Nokia, thanks to its smaller screen.

Weight

The smaller iPhone is also lighter than the Nokia, although neither is going to weigh you down.

Materials

Both phones are made of aluminum, unlike the glass-backed offering from Samsung.

Colors

Apple offers two shades of black, including fingerprint-magnet Jet Black, along with the standard range of silver, gold, rose gold and red, while Nokia offers two shades of blue or, if you're after something a bit more colorful, shades of bronze and copper.

Water resistance

The iPhone 7 is the first dust and waterproof phone from Apple, while the Nokia 8 is only splash-proof. Water-loving (or accident prone) Instagrammers will want to stick with Apple, then, or kit their Nokia out with a waterproof case.

Screen size

The iPhone has a smaller screen to go with its lighter weight and smaller footprint.

Resolution

The Nokia 8 has a 2560 x 1440 QHD display, with a pixel density of 554 ppi. That's ever-so-slightly less than the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8, although you're unlikely to notice the difference. The iPhone doesn't come close, with a peak resolution of 1334 x 750 from its Retina Display.

It's worth remembering, however, that Apple is known for getting things like contrast, brightness and white balance right with its displays.

Display type

Both the iPhone and Nokia 8 sport IPS LCD displays. However, the Nokia display can go slightly brighter than the iPhone screen, with peak brightness readings of 700 nits and 625 nits, respectively.

Home button

Both phones have a physical home button, mounted below the screen. It's flanked by capacitive buttons on the Nokia.

Fingerprint sensor

Both the Nokia and iPhone have fingerprint sensors embedded in their home buttons.

Face recognition

Neither phone will support face recognition or, by extension, iris scanning. The Samsung S8 will do both those things, and rumors suggest the next iPhone will also have face unlock.

Processor

Apple develops its own processors for iPhones and iPads, whereas Nokia has turned to Qualcomm for the chip in the 8.

RAM

The iPhone has only half the RAM of the Nokia, but Apple is known for better managing its memory – proving less can sometimes be more.

Storage

iPhone buyers can choose from three different models, starting with the 32 GB model. The Nokia flagship is only available with 64 GB of storage, but that can be expanded with a MicroSD card. More on that in just a second.

MicroSD

As is standard for Apple, you can't expand the storage on the iPhone 7. The Nokia 8 can accept up to 256 GB of MicroSD storage.

Headphone jack

Apple made the "brave" (read: questionable) decision to remove the 3.5-mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7, instead bundling an adapter and a set of Lightning headphones with the device. Nokia has, sensibly, included a 3.5-mm headphone jack on the 8.

Battery

The batteries are not user replaceable, with the iPhone's much lower capacity than the Nokia. But iOS is known for its excellent power management, so even though Nokia hasn't revealed standby/run time estimates, and we'd expect it to outlast the iPhone, the two phones may be closer than you'd think in this regard.

Fast charging

Apple is yet to integrate fast charging into the iPhone, while Nokia has Fast Charge 3.0 built in. Good thing, given how big the battery is. Sorry iPhone owners, it's slow charging or no charging unfortunately.

Wireless charging

The iPhone is yet to get wireless charging capability, an omission shared with the Nokia 8.

Cameras

Nokia has gone all-out with the camera on its new Android flagship phone, with 13-MP sensors both front and back. The phone has an interesting new "bothie" mode, where intrepid vloggers can record from both cameras simultaneously.

Rear camera aperture

The iPhone has a slightly wider aperture than the Nokia, which should make a difference in low-light photography.

Image stabilization

Both phones have built-in optical image stabilization.

Operating system

Apple runs its own operating system, the latest version of which is iOS 10. Nokia will ship the 8 with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and is promising prompt security updates for owners.

Release date

The iPhone 7 has been out for almost a year now with a successor due next month, while the Nokia 8 will be arriving in September.

Price

The iPhone starts at US$649, while the Nokia 8 was announced with a €599 (equiv. US$700) price. Nokia hasn't announced official pricing for the US yet.